Articles

Topic for next month: Losing
(Please start submitting questions concerning the above topic for the next column. Questions outside of that theme should be submitted to other Chess.com departments. If I get the opportunity to answer a different ki... |Read More

Last week, we dissected Magnus Carlsen's positional mastery by examining two of his finest strategic victories. However, modern chess demands universality, and it is impossible to become world champion and attain the highest rating in history thro... |Read More

In our study of squares we’ve looked mainly at amateur games and how a “tiny” thing like a square is often ignored, while tactics, threats and attacks are always part of the amateur’s mind.
This brings up an interesting q... |Read More

At the recently concluded Grenke Chess Classic in Baden-Baden, Magnus Carlsen defeated German grandmaster Arkady Naiditsch in a scintillating blitz playoff for first place. It was the latest success in a dazzling career, an encore to his resoundin... |Read More

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(You can find the Master's Bulletin archive here)
Peter’s Chess Vibes
All Over Europe
“I write the introduction to this Bulletin from Zurich, where the annual super tournament is under way. Befor... |Read More

Blogs

This is an endgame study by D. Joseph that was published in "British Chess Magazine", 1922. This composition draws our attention to defensive stalemate resources, an interesting theoretically drawn endgame, and queen triangulation.
http://youtu.b... |Read More

Every novice soon learns a table of [DH: "average"] material value for the pieces, the most popular being 1-3-3-5-9, but with a bit more experience he learns that this table is not always reliable. There are two reasons for this: one is that an ... |Read More

So far in my chess journey, I've reluctantly ignored NM Dan Heisman's improvement advice to review thousands of master games. Yes, of course I review master games that have been included in the books I've read, such as How to Reassess Your Ches... |Read More

(This interview was initially published in February 2015 on our blog; view it here!)
From writing and playing to consulting and teaching, International Master Jeremy Silman has explored many facets of chess. He has not only authored over 35 ... |Read More

News

GM Evgeny Tomashevsky increased his lead to a full point again at the Tbilisi Grand Prix by winning the rare NBB vs R ending against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
One more game ended decisively in round eight: GM Baadur Job... | Read More

In Saturday's sixth round GM Peter Svidler & GM Teimour Radjabov scored their first wins at the Tbilisi Grand Prix. GM Evgeny Tomashevsky is still a point ahead of the pack.
All photos courtesy of FIDE.
There's still five ro... | Read More

Round five of the Tbilisi Grand Prix saw three decisive games, and GM Evgeny Tomashevsky was able to hold onto his full point lead over the field by drawing with GM Anish Giri in a balanced 6.h3 King's Indian Defense:
Toma... | Read More

His first-round loss was quickly forgotten as GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov defeated GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in round two of the Tbilisi Grand Prix.
The other five games ended in draws. After two rounds, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Evgeny... | Read More

GM Fabiano Caruana was doing well, but then completely spoilt it and so GM Hikaru Nakamura was the only winner in the first round of the Zurich Chess Challenge.
GM Levon Aronian missed a good chance in the final position and went for ... | Read More

Video Lessons

Bobby Fischer was a confident player, there is no disputing that.
Last time, we saw how his confidence could be his greatest weakness, as he pressed too hard in a drawish endgame and gave up his bishop in the 1972 world championship match with Spassky.
Today, IM Keaton Kiewra shows you how Fischer — undaunted — boldly challenged Spassky in the Russian’s best opening during the same match, with spectacular results.
| Watch video

Did Bobby Fischer blunder his bishop in game one of the 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky?
IM Keaton Kiewra argues that he did not, proposing instead that Fischer gave up the bishop in a bold attempt to win a drawn endgame.
IM Kiewra shows you why this did not work, and discusses what could have led Fischer to press for a win when he should not have.
| Watch video

Do you know the five secrets to tough endgames?
If you’re not sure, don’t worry. GM Melikset Khachiyan is here to show you the five endgame concepts you need to know.
GM Khachiyan analyzes one of his own exciting games to demonstrate the proper endgame technique. | Watch video

How do you beat weaker players in the endgame?
GM Melikset Khachiyan shows you how with his own game against a lower-rated international master.
Learn how a powerfully placed knight can dominate a bishop in a pawn endgame, even with pawns on both sides of the board. | Watch video

What are the three things you need to know about the middlegame?
Many chess players have a good idea of what to play in the opening, and endgames can be studied and memorized.
But what about the middlegame, when things are much less clear? FM Todd Andrews tells you what you need to know! | Watch video

Chessopedia

Pronounced "tsoog-tsvung", Zugzwang is a German word meaning "obligation to move". The term is used for a position in which whoever has the move would obtain a worse result than if it were the opponent’s turn to play. A player is said to b...
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An endgame tablebase is a computerized database that contains precalculated exhaustive analysis of a chess endgame position. It is typically used by a computer chess engine during play, or by a human or computer that is retrospectively anal...
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Most endgame positions are tough.You should play easy endgames first.2 rook or 2 queens are the easiest.More difficult is Q&K mate and the rook and king mate.Even more tough is the pawn and king mate.This is the last and the difficultest par...
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Checkmate (frequently shortened to mate) is a situation in chess in which one player's king is in check and there is no way to remove that threat; it is a check from which there is no legal move to remove check through either capturing the pie...
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